The iPhone XS’s Dual SIM Feature Is Pretty Much Useless—For Now

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Apple’s dual-SIM feature for the new iPhones won’t really be useful in 2018.

When Apple unveiled its new iPhone XS, XS Max and XR, one of the features it touted was dual-SIM that will allow users to use two different SIMs on one iPhone. However, the feature wasn’t available until iOS 12.1, which was released yesterday. Even though it’s now supported by Apple, it still doesn’t really mean much because carriers aren’t supporting the feature from the get-go.

TechnoBuffalo reached out to three major U.S. carriers that support the feature—AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon—for comment on the status of dual-SIM support and each confirmed that it will be coming later this year.

“At this time we are working on creating the best experience possible,” said a T-Mobile spokesperson. “We will have a solution available before the end of the year.”

AT&T previously said that carrier support would arrive by the end of the year, confirming support wasn’t expected to be ready right away. Each carrier also said they are working closely with Apple to roll out the support in a timely fashion.

It’s probably for the best that support for dual-SIM isn’t available right now. Verizon confirmed that if its customers activated another carrier line on a dual-SIM iPhone, the Verizon line would be “degraded due to current software configuration.” In short, you can’t use two different carriers on a Verizon iPhone or else performance will suffer. Verizon went on to say it’s trying to resolve the issue quickly.

Sprint, on the other hand, is still the only carrier not supporting the feature. It did say it is working with Apple to offer dual-SIM support in the future, it’s just not happening any time soon.